What's It Worth?

Shirley Temple Doll Still A Charmer

November 12, 2000|By Leslie Hindman.

I'm curious to find out the value of this Shirley Temple doll I received as a gift in 1959.

--Ann Hacker, Hinsdale

As a girl, I used to love to wake up early on Saturday mornings just to watch old Shirley Temple movies on television. And I wasn't alone. Every girl I knew did the same thing. Whether in the theater or at home, girls have been loving Shirley Temple for years.

So, not surprisingly, dolls like yours have been popular for almost as long as Shirley Temple has been alive. After all, she appeared in her first movie when she was only 3. The first Shirley Temple dolls were introduced not long afterward. Temple starred in such movies as "Poor Little Rich Girl," "Wee Willie Winkie," and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," and danced with the best of the best, including Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The singing, dancing, smiling tyke, who was the top box-office draw from 1935 through 1939, was a bright light during the grimmest years of the Depression.

The first authorized Shirley Temple dolls were produced by the Ideal Toy Co. and sculpted by the best doll artist of the time and wore costumes created by the finest seamstresses and designers. )

The original Shirley Temple dolls were made from wax and wood pulp (known as composition) and came in at least nine sizes-- from 11 to 27 inches. With few exceptions, they had hazel glass eyes, real upper lashes and hand-painted lower lashes, with wisps of blush painted on their cheeks, wrists and knees. You can read more about these dolls in "Shirley Temple Dolls and Fashions" by Edward R. Pardella (Schiffer Books, $29.95).

During the first few years, the dolls changed and grew in maturity, as did the actress. Then as Temple's popularity declined, so did doll sales. Production stopped in 1939. Production started again in 1957, when her movies were released to television.

From the photo and the year you say you received it, your doll is probably from this later period. Such a doll, in good condition and in the original box like yours, is very collectible. It's worth about $300.

My "grama" had this pitcher for many years. What can you tell me about it?

--Alana Hornbaker, Grand Forks, N.D.

Your scallop-top blue glass pitcher, with its hand-painted decoration, is a lovely example of what appears to be Bohemian glass, circa 1900. Bohemia, one of three of the original lands of the Czech crown (the other two are Moravia and Silesia) was, and still is, a prestigious center of European glassmaking. In fact, the art of glassmaking goes back to at least the 14th Century during the reign of Karl IV von Luxemburg, who was king of Bohemia and the founder of the University of Prague. Your pitcher is worth about $80.

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Leslie Hindman is the founder of the online appraisal service eppraisals.com and host of two shows on HGTV. She welcomes letters but cannot reply to them individually. She answers those of general interest in her column only. Send photos of objects with identifying marks visible (sorry we cannot return them), a brief history, and daytime phone number to: Home&Garden, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, Attn: What's It Worth?